روش بحث گروهی متمرکز برای تجزیه و تحلیل مقایسه ای شرکت های بخش خصوصی و دولتی در نیجریه

State owned enterprises have in recent years presented an acute set of institutional problems compared with their counterparts in the private sector problems. Most often they have large operating deficits and impose a heavy burden on the public budget. Although experience with public enterprises varies from country to country, in many developing countries, the responsibility for devising and implementing the policy reforms of public services rests with a small group of political officers who are hardly in a position to supervise the programmes despite the historical objective of these enterprises which includes national security and public interest. This paper seeks to determine the factors responsible for the differences in performance of the public and private enterprises, as perceived and identified by the ownership, management and employees of both private and public sector enterprises in selected states in Nigeria.

Enough has been said about the failure of public sector enterprises in developing countries in recent years. The poor performance of public sector enterprises has led to attempts to privatise most of these enterprises. While privatisation is generally desirable, the extent, nature and speed with which it can be pursued varies from country to country and depends on the type of enterprise. The process in many countries including Nigeria has been slow in view of the need to build a broad political consensus, to change entrenched positions, to inculcate a new approach and to overcome certain inherent economic constraints. In many African countries, the slenderness of domestic capital markets, scarcity of experienced entrepreneurs and reluctance of the private sector to acquire inefficient and loss-making public sector enterprises at mutually acceptable prices are inherent economic structural constraints on privatisation. There is no doubt therefore that the public sector will continue to play a notable role in the economy of many developing countries. It is in this context that we need to find our which factors contribute to the poor performance of public sector enterprises compared with their private sector counterparts. However, a review of the limited literature in this area in Nigeria shows that little attempt has been made to involve the participants of both sectors in an evaluation of the relative performance of the enterprises. Contemporary social research suggests the need for a participatory research approach in such analysis especially in Nigeria, where reliable data are not readily available. There is no doubt that those involved in the management and operation of public and private sector enterprises can provide good insight into the successes and failures of these enterprises if their confidence is won by the researcher. This is the approach adopted in this study which involved the ownership, management and employees of some samples of private and public sector enterprises in Edo, Delta and Anambra States of Nigeria, in the analysis of factors influencing the relative performance of enterprises in both sectors.

The findings of the focus group approach to the comparative analysis of private and public sector enterprises have identified the major constraint to the performance of public sector enterprises to Nigeria and indeed other parts of Africa. The discussions have shown that public sector enterprises in Nigeria can succeed if government reduces the level in interference in them. There is a need to reduce this involvement in areas where government considers it necessary to encourage the involvement of the public sector. Instead of the linkage of public sector enterprises to relevant government ministries where officials interfere with the routine management of the enterprises, it is necessary to establish state owned holding companies which could be used to manage small and medium-sized enterprises such as those covered in this study.